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Rig Veda · 918 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN LXXXI. Visvakarman.
1.HE who sate down as Hotar-priest, the Ṛṣi, our Father, offering up all things existing,— He, seeking through his wish a great possession, came among men on earth as archetypal.
2.What was the place whereon he took his station? What was it that supported him? How was it? Whence Visvakarman, seeing all, producing the earth, with mighty power disclosed the heavens.
3.He who hath eyes on all sides round about him, a mouth on all sides, arms and feet on all sides, He, the Sole God, producing earth and heaven, weldeth them, with his arms as wings, together.
4.What was the tree, what wood in sooth produced it, from which they fashioned out the earth and heaven? Ye thoughtful men inquire within your spirit whereon he stood when he established all things.
5.Nine highest, lowest, sacrificial natures, and these thy mid-most here, O Visvakarman, Teach thou thy friends at sacrifice, O Blessed, and come thyself, exalted, to our worship.
6.Bring thou thyself, exalted with oblation, O Visvakarman, Earth and Heaven to worship. Let other men around us live in folly here let us have a rich and liberal patron.
7.Let us invoke to-day, to aid our labour, the Lord of Speech, the thought-swift Visvakarman. May he hear kindly all our invocations who gives all bliss for aid, whose works are righteous.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn keep asking what supported Visvakarman when he made heaven and earth?
The hymn repeats that question to force attention inward: it asks ‘‘whereon he stood’’ and ‘‘what was the tree’’ to make the listener seek the ground of creation, not merely admire the act. Those concrete images—tree, place, support—are probes aimed at the origin beneath cosmic crafting, showing Visvakarman as both maker and mystery.
This chapter treats Visvakarman as the all-seeing artisan whose limbs ‘‘weldeth’’ heaven and earth, so the repeated questioning turns his workmanship into an invitation to know the source of order. The thrust echoes Upanishadic curiosity in the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya, which also press from cosmic action back to the underlying principle that grounds existence.
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